Anyone have any experience on track at Dominion? I was thinking about doing a track day there but... from videos the runoff looks a little suspect. Like, borderline dangerous. Lots of concrete and tires walls immediately off the pavement. Do they put up any softer barriers? I'd hate to lose the front in the last corner.
It's infinitely safer than any public road you've ever ridden a motorcycle on and way more dangerous than just about any other race track you can ride a motorcycle on.
Having walked the track multiple times before, during, and after the track was paved (I lived about 10 minutes away from it) I would rather ride on I-95 with no helmet on than ride that track. There is literally more run off on the shoudler of 95 than there is that track.
Looks like the consensus is "no." Seriously, even with cars an accident between the walls would clog up the whole track. Shame, it's a great location for a track and right up the road from me as well. What were they smoking when they decided on that layout?
Holy shit...they must be running that configuration until the order for land mines and pungi sticks comes in.
One of the track day orgs does a street ride training thing there. Anything faster than that would be very dangerous. It is still safer than the street, but only because it is lacking 5000lb SUVs piloted by people staring at their cell phones.
I'm guessing the track owners hate motorcycles? Why would build a road course and not think of bikes?
I never thought I'd say this but seeing that makes me think the Shenandoah circuit at summit point isn't so bad after all.........
Sheeny isn't that bad for track days. Most of the places where the walls are close, the speeds are way down. I have seen and heard of more people being seriously hurt by reaching the barriers at Main than Shenandoah. With that said, they have been working on fixing some of those spots on Main and/or have added air fence since those crashes. Here are my thoughts on Shenny safety from a track day point of view. I concur that there is no way to race safely. Brake failure into the Hook (turn 6) and turn 20 would be bad, but complete brake failures are bad in lots of places at lots of tracks. The wall is a bit close exiting onto the Bridge Straight (turn 11), so just take it easy on the gas coming out. People complain about the walls being close in the Karussel (turn 13), but every crash I have seen there the biggest risk is the bike coming back down the banking and onto the race line. Typically it stops short thus leaving a path through on the inside. The walls look close for the speed at turn 16, but you are exiting shallow and slow to get set up for 17, so it would be a really weird place to crash. Then there is what I feel the worst spot on the track Big Bend (turn 19). The answer is the same as turn 11, just take it easy through there. Two throw away corners still leaves about 16 other corners per lap as the configuration most orgs run is about 18 turns as I count them. Fighting to keep the front end of my R1 near the ground twice a lap is the fun part. I am never more tired leaving a track day than I am after Shenny. Riding any big bike there will seriously wear you out. I am seriously considering picking up an SV650 or FZ7 for a backup bike / Shenny bike. I am betting I would be faster on a properly set up mid-sized twin than I am on my R1 around there.
Last time I saw shennendoah circuit, they were pulling a bike back over the wall after flipping into the woods. No thanks. LOL at Dominion.
Meh, we've had them clear the telephone wires in T10 on Main Granted we were racing not doing a track day.
The why they build these places is simple - because people keep ignoring safety issues and going there to ride.
Wow whoever said it wasn’t kidding that there is zero run off..... I wouldn’t even want to rip around at pace in a car there.
Car guys don't either, because of the same reason. Nobody wants to put their $80k race car into a jersey barrier that's 10 feet (literally) off track.
